12 Hours

We left Stuart, FL at about 6:30 AM and we arrived in our driveway at 6:40 PM. That includes 2 meal breaks, lunch at a Hardee’s in Lake City (FL), dinner at Waffle House in Augusta, plus about a half dozen driver changes/leg stretches/potty breaks/refueling stops.

I’m sure we could know an hour or two off that time by taking the most direct route, but we hate I-95. There are always too many people going too fast, too close. We actually go west then east to get home and pay for the privilege. Florida Turnpike ($12.90 in tolls) to I-75 to somewhere north of Valdosta and then duck onto the two-lane GA state roads to get to Aiken. Yahoo maps says it is a mere 521 miles from Aiken to Stuart. I’m not sure how long the return trip was, it was a slight variation of the one down which totaled 640.2 miles, because I kept the total trip distance (1363.3) and didn’t pay attention to the 2 days worth of driving around down there. Now you wouldn’t think there would have been much mileage drive because we were visiting family and the motel we were staying at was less than 5 miles from the house, but you probably wouldn’t factor in a 45 mile round trip to see the sunrise over the Atlantic on Hutchinson Island with a trip to Ft. Pierce to eat at Dave’s Diner because it was rated one of the top 3 breakfast places on the Treasure Coast to go along with the last minute shopping trip.

We did start the trip out with the top down because it was 63 in Stuart this morning. We made it about 60-70 miles before the rains came. The rest of Florida was off and on rain, but by the time we got to Georgia the temps had cooled and with the cloud cover, we just left it up for the rest of the drive.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 390

Saturday In The Park

Saturday In The ParkNo state parks for Christmas Eve, but we did walk a few blocks from Sandy’s house to a small city park. The adults stood around chit-chatting while some nephews-in-law played in the sand and a niece related by vapor swung on the swings.

That night the kids were going to open one gift after Uncle Paul read them Clement Clarke Moore’s “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” Donna and Brian were going to open a couple because they weren’t going to be there Christmas morning, but one of the relations (who likes to be the center of attention and in charge of everything) proceeded to hand out gift after gift after gift until the tree was empty underneath. Oh well, at least “Santa’s” gifts to the kiddies were in another room, so they would have some surprises in the morning.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 388

33,000 Orange Trees

33,000 Orange TreesToday’s State Park of the Day was Lake Louisa in Florida. There was no fancy lodge for lunch like yesterday, but there were a few hiking trails available for a walk. We didn’t walk any because we were pressed for time, but we did drive around and check the whole place out. A nice oasis of nature not too far from Orlando.

Somewhere around the state park driving through endless miles of orange groves, the Emperor passed the 33,000 mile mark. It was exactly a week ago that it went by 32,000. The miles can really mount up when you are having fun

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 386

Lake City, Where?

Lake City, Where?When Donna and I planned this little Holiday trip we decide to take two days down and one back up. To pick a place to stay that was about half way I used the scientific method of stretching my finger from Point Aiken to Point Stuart and looked at a spot about half-way for the overnight stay, unfortunately that point was in the middle of the Okefenokee Swamp. Went a little past half, to make the second day’s driving easier, and settled on Lake City, FL. Made a reservation at the Holiday Inn Express there and started counting down the days until I would get a cinnamon bun for breakfast.

After we had eaten lunch and gone for a hike in the Little Ocmulgee State Park, Donna took out the reservation sheet for the Holiday Inn Express and went to check the directions to get there. For the life of her, no matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t find US52 nor US378 anywhere near Lake City, FL. It was then that she noticed the address on the reservation confirmation I had printed out, Lake City, SC. At first I thought it had to be a misprint, but then I noticed the hotel’s phone number and sure enough I recognized it as a SC area code. DOH!

Got on the cell phone and called Lake City, SC and canceled my reservation. Asked the clerk there to give me the phone number of the Holiday In Express in Lake City, FL. There was not an Express, but there was a plain ol’ Holiday Inn, with a vacancy, so we reserved a night there. I wasn’t going to get my cinnamon bun, but at least we would be staying in a room on the way to Stuart, FL not 300 miles away in the wrong direction.

Started down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 384

Happy Christmas

Or “Dude, I’m Getting A Dell, Part Deaux.”

We are off for a long holiday weekend and have decided to take a drive to a place that put us in more of a Christmas feeling than the sunny and sixty Aiken; sunny and mid-seventies of south Florida. I’ll be taking a pad and paper so I can analog blog for later transcription here. This will be the last time I have to do it that way because Santa is bringing me one of those $500 Dell laptops. I must have been a very good boy this year. 🙂 From now on, same day blogging no matter where I am.

I ordered it on Sunday and they even had a free upgrade to 2-day shipping. I was thinking that would mean it would be here by now, but if you watch this video you’ll see why it may be after Christmas before I get it:
Cops! (warning for dial-uppers – 2M file size)

See ya Monday.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 381

Left Off The Guest Again

I had “Madman Across the Water” on vinyl, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” on 8-track and “Reg Strikes Back” on CD, but I guess that wasn’t enough to warrant an invite to either one of the bachelor parties.

Cargo Net

Cargo NetOur glove box is full of maps. Really full. One thing of suntan lotion, a travel pack of Kleenex, a Big Chill Soundtrack CD (for the rare times Donna drives) and lots and lots of maps. Oh yeah, a small lighted magnifying glass for night map reading, plus more maps. There might be a pen in there somewhere near the bottom too.

Because you never know where you will end up once you start a drive in the Miata we have an Aiken city map and an Augusta city map. Two South Carolina state maps, a Barnwell county map, Columbia, Charleston, Sumter, Anderson and Greenville city maps. A Georgia state map, a Georgia mountains map, Atlanta, Rome and Savannah city maps, North Carolina state map and an Asheville city map. Florida, Tennessee and Virginia state maps. Plus a ratty old copy of one that covers the eastern US that I think we are keeping for sentimental reasons.

In an effort to create some room in the GB we decided to take out some of the maps from the further away places that really don’t need to be handy. My first thought was keep them on the counter in the garage that we walk right by to get in the car, but I knew we’d forget to bring them and then end up spending another $5 for a map we already had. My second thought was the winner. Mazda came out with a neat little cargo net for the back of the trunk. I had contemplated buying it a while back to hold the CB radio in that I use on MMC events, but never got around to it. They are like $20 and I think a nice bargain. Turns out they were on sale at Trussville for $15.60 and to top it off they are offering free regular ground shipping through the end of the year. Ordered it Sunday night on the web page and it was at my doorstep at 6 this evening.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 380